Compressor valve structure



Oct. 5, 1954 GEHRES 2,690,868

COMPRESSOR VALVE STRUCTURE Filed Jan. 26, 1950 s Sheets-Sheet 2INVENTOR. HEWITTA.GEHRES.

ATTORNEYS Oct. 5, 1954 H. A. GEHRES 2,690,868

COMPRESSOR VALVE STRUCTURE Filed Jan. 26, 1950 :5 Sheets-Sheet 3INVENTOR. HEWITTA.GEHRE5.

Patented Oct. 5, 1954 COMPRESSOR VALVE STRUCTURE Hewitt A. Gehres,'M0untVernon, Ohio, assignor to Cooper-BessemerCorporation, MountVernon,'0hio, a corporation of Ohio Application January 26, 1950, SerialNo. 140,654

1 Claim.

The invention aims primarily toprovide a compressor valve structurewhich will afford relatively large area of flow of the air or gas whichis being passed through the compressor, without entailing correspondingincrease in the cross sectional size of the valve structure. Inaccordance with the invention, I utilize valve mechanisms which may beof the plate type ordinarily used in compressors, and which are annularin form. Then the valve mechanisms are assembled in juxtaposedpositions, so that their adjacent faces can readily communicate with anair or gas conduit leading to the space between the valve mechanisms,and the alined interior spaces enclosed by the valve mechanisms areutilized to provide an interior passageway communicating between theremote faces of the valve mechanisms. In this way, air or gas can beconducted in parallel through the valve mechanisms, entering eitherthrough the space between the valve mechanisms and passing out through aconduit which is in communication with both of the remote faces of thevalve mechanisms through the interior passageway above referred to, orvice versa. Such a valve structure may readily be arranged to serve forcompressor intake purposes, or for discharge purposes, and afiordsgaseous flow through the combined areas of the valve mechanisms, and therequired cross sectional diameter of the valve structure will be muchless as compared to the prior type of compressor valve customarily used.Furthermore, as later more fully set forth, the interior passagewayabove referred to serves not only as conduit for gaseous medium passingto or from the cylinder space through the valve mechanism whichsurrounds the passageway, but also affords communication between thecylinder space and a clearance pocket mounted adjacent the valvemechanism, when the clearance pocket is in operation. Thus the aforesaidpassageway serves the valve mechanism and the clearance pocket jointly,and wherever such an intake or discharge valve mechanism is located, anaccompanying clearance pocket may be readily provided without requiringextensive, space consuming structuralaltcrations of the end portions ofthe compressor cylinder, where space is at a premium. Further featuresof the invention will be in part obvious and in part specificallyreferred to in the description hereinafter contained which, taken inconjunction with the accompanying drawings, discloses certain preferredforms of compressor valve structures which are constructed in accordancewith the invention; the disclosure however should be considered merelyas illustrative of the invention in its broader aspects. In thedrawings- Fig. 1 is a sectional view taken through a compressor inletvalve structure constructed in accordance with the invention, said valvestructure being shown in operative relation to the adjacent parts of thecylinder structure.

Figs. 2 and 3 are sectional views taken respectively on the lines 22 and33 of Fig. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 1, but showing a valve structureconstructed to function as a compressor discharge valve.

Referring first to Figs. 1 to 3, the invention is disclosed as appliedto a compressor cylinder I having therein an intake conduit 2 whichleads into the cylinder head or housing 3, the latter also serving tohouse the intake valve structure now to be described, and having anintake port 4 through which air or gas will enter the main cylinderspace 5 of the compressor, when the intake valve structure is open.

Since the valve structure shown in Fig. 1 comprises two valve mechanismswhich are similar in most respects, a description of one will largelyserve for the other. The upper valve mechanism shown in Fig. 1is-provided with an annular valve seat member ii, having intake passagesI and 8 grouped around a central shell '9 which the valve seat member 5encloses. An annular valve guard member l0, likewise surrounds thecentral shell 9 and is provided with a series of discharge passages !2,l3 and 14. A plate valve l5 of ring-like form is interposed between thevalve seat member 5 and the valve guard member It, and is urged towardits seating position in which the passageways and 8 are closed, by anappropriate number of helical springs 16 (Figs. 1 and 3) whichyieldingly urge the plate valve :5 downwardly as the parts appear inFig. l.

A second valve mechanism of similar character to the one just described,likewise encloses the central shell 8 in juxtaposed and invertedrelation to the valve mechanism just described, i. e. the valve seatmember 5a of this latter valve mechanism faces the valve seat member 6previously described, and the valve guard member Ifl'a of the secondmentioned valve mechanism is located at the face of the latter which isremote from the valve guard member Ill. The passages l2, l3 and I4discharge into a chamber [5| which is at one end of the valve assembly,and the discharge passages l2a, l3a and Ma discharge into a chamber l6which is at the other end of the valve assembly, these two chambers IIand I6 being in communication through a central passageway I! whichextends through the central shell 9.

Likewise the intake passages 'I, 8 and Ia, 8a of the two valvemechanisms are both in communication with an annular chamber I8 whichsurrounds the two mechanisms, the latter being shown as having a spacingcollar I9 (Fig. 1) interposed therebetween. The valve assembly is shownas held together by a nut 20 (Fig. 1) at the top of the central shell 9,the chambers I5 and I8 being separated by an annular strut ZI (Fig. 1).

Thus when the piston (not shown) is moving to the left as the partsappear in Fig. 1, the resulting suction lifts the upper plate valve I5from off its seat and lowers the plate valve I5a from its seat, thusaffording flow of the air or the gas to be compressed through intakeconduit 2 into chamber I8, then in parallel through the two valvemechanisms to the chambers I5 and. I6 which are in communication throughthe central passageway II, and from thence through the intake port 4into the cylinder space 5.

I have shown in Fig. 1, a clearance pocket 22 (Fig. 1) which is alinedwith the valve structure previously described. When valve 23, whichseats upon an opening 25 through the strut member 2|, is open, theclearance space '22 is in communication with the cylinder space 5through the passageway I'I etc. previously described, thus partiallyunloading the compressor.

In Fig. 4 a valve structure of similar character is shown in a formadapted to serve for discharge purposes from the cylinder space 5through a discharge port 25 in the cylinder head 3, and then through thevalve structure to a discharge conduit 26 in the cylinder. In this formof the invention the upper valve seat member 6b occupies an invertedposition with respect to the valve seat member 5 previously described,in such manner that its intake passages 'Ib and 8b are in communicationwith a chamber 21? above the valve assembly. The valve guard member IUbof Fig. 4, is disposed underneath the valve seat member 6b, and theplate valve I5b of Fig. 4 is yieldingly pressed upwardly against itsseat as shown in Fig. 4. Likewise the lower valve seat member 60 of Fig.4 occupies an inverted position with respect to the lower valve seatmember 6a of Fig. 1, in such manner that the intake passages lo and 80thereof are in communication with a chamber I60 at the lower end of thevalve assembly, this chamber being in communication with the chamber ZIat the top of the valve assembly, through a central passageway I'Iawhich is enclosed by the central shell 9a of Fig. 4. The valve guardmember Iilc of the lower valve mechanism in Fig. 4, is likewise invertedin position with respect to the valve member Illa of Fig. 1, and thusthe discharge passages I2b, I3b, lab, and also the discharge passagesI20, I30 and I Ic of Fig. 4, are all in communication with the annularchamber I8a which encloses the valve mechanisms. In Fig. 4 the annularstrut 2 Ia separates the chambers I60 and I8a, and holds the valvemechanisms in position, a cap 25I being shown in Fig. 4 as underlyingthe valve structure to hold the latter in position. Thus when the pistonmoves to the right in the cylinder space 5, as the parts appear in Fig.4, the resulting pressure will unseat the plate valve I5b in a downwarddirection, and unseat the plate valve I50 in an upward direction,whereby the air or gas being delivered from the compressor will flow inpart downwardly thru the upper valve mechanism into chamber IM, and inpart thru the central passageway I'Ia into chamber I60, and thenupwardly thru the lower valve mechanism of Fig. 4, into chamber I8a, andfrom thence out thru the exhaust conduit 26.

While the invention has been disclosed as carried out by the abovedescribed specific forms of compressor valve structure, it should beunderstood that changes may be made therein without departing from theinvention in its broader aspects, within the scope of the appendedclaim.

I claim:

In combination, a compressor cylinder having cylinder space thereinwhich extends to an end portion thereof, and a compressor valve andclearance pocket structure located at said end portion of said cylinder,said structure including a housing having therein an open ended shellproviding a gaseous medium conducting passageway extending through saidshell, which passageway is in open communication at the inner endportion thereof with the cylinder space at said end of the compressor,and valve mechanisms surrounding said shell and spaced therealong, saidvalve mechanisms each having intake and discharge passages disposedexteriorly of said shell and each valve mechanism having valve meansinterposed between its passages, which valve means is urged toward aposition obstructing the flow of gaseous medium through the valvemechanism; said housing having a gaseous medium conducting chamberdisposed exteriorly of said shell and which is in communication with theaforesaid passages of one type of each valve mechanism, said passages ofthe remaining type of said vlave mechanisms being respectively incommunication with the opposite end portions of said passageway, saidhousing also having a clearance pocket mounted adjacent the outer endportion of said passageway, and a valve interposed between saidclearance pocket and passageway, whereby said passageway serves toconnect both the valve mechanisms and the clearance pocket to saidcylinder space, when said last mentioned valve is open.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS NumberName Date 1,579,782 Riesner Apr. 6, 1926 1,969,507 Gehres Aug. 7, 19342,241,195 Gehres May 6, 1941 2,297,944 Collins Oct. 6, 1942 FOREIGNPATENTS Number Country Date 648,203 Germany Nov. 1935

